Visited a few cafes and ice cream parlors lately. I ranked them from my least favorite to my favorite:

#5. Stateland Cafe Kampong Glam
30 Bali Lane Singapore 189866
T: +65 9296 4997
M, W, Th 12pm-10pm, F&Sat 12pm-12am, Sun 10am-10pm
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Specialty: The red velvet waffles was awful. The waffles was bitter, and the cream cheese sour.
Price: $14.90 for waffles and a scoop of ice cream.
Pros: Excellent service. Very pretty place. Has other savory food.
Cons: Expensive. Noisy: the room traps all the sounds.

#4. Oblong Ice Cream Serangoon Gardens
10 Maju Ave Singapore 556688
T: +65 6858 2320
M-Th 12.30pm-midnight, F&Sat 12.30pm-2am, Sun 1pm-midnight
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Photo credit: Pinky Piggu

Specialty: Two square waffles, not oblong, and you can add filling in between. My friend’s red velvet waffles with cream cheese was better than my charcoal waffles with lemon curd topped with earl gray ice cream. Not bad, but not memorable.
Price: About $11 for waffles and a scoop.
Pros: NA.
Cons: Very noisy from the music blaring and the crowd. Dark, and uncomfortable. Prison-like decor. Hard to find parking. The tagline, “Be there or be square,” doesn’t really work, because an oblong is not a square. This place gave me a headache.

#3. Creamier Ice Cream Toa Payoh
128, Toa Payoh Lorong 1 #01-835, Singapore 310128
T: +65 6250 1476
Sun-Th 12-10pm, F&Sat 12-11pm, Closed Mon
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Specialty: Pretty decent waffles, crispy but slightly undercooked inside. Decent ice cream–the sea-salt gula melaka and earl gray were good.
Price: About $11 for waffles and two scoops.
Pros: Near parking. Decorated cutely.
Cons: Way too crowded for only decent ice cream. Guess location is good.

#2. Butter Studio Bakery Little India
147 Jalan Besar Singapore 208865
T: +65 6294 7115
Sun-Th 10.30am-10pm, F & Sat 10.30am-midnight
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Specialty: It’s a bakery. And the sea-salt caramel red velvet cake ($7.90) was delicious but a little dry and tiny for the price. No waffles here, but banana nutella pancakes with earl gray ice cream (about $12-13) had an interesting combination of sweet, and bitter. The catered ice cream had a strong sweet-bitterness of tea, very awesome. Pity about the lousy, dry pancakes. The nutella tart at the display looked appealing.
Price: $16 for pancakes and ice cream
Pros: Halal. Plenty of seats. Cute decor.
Cons: Expensive. Hard to find parking.

#1. Rabbit Owl Depot Ice Cream City Hall/Bugis
420 North Bridge Road #01-06 Singapore 188727
T: +65 6336 4075
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Specialty: The waffles was perfect, crispy and well-balanced. The black sesame, durian, and earl gray ice creams were decent too. Classic flavors, nothing fanciful, and too conservative for me. Serves a very delightful, catered sea-salt chocolate tart ($5.50).
Price: $13.50 for waffles and 2 scoops.
Pros: Central area. Good price.
Cons: Terrible chairs, hard to sit.

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.